India's first Formula 1 grade circuit may not be seeing a whole lot of racing outside of the Indian Grand Prix, as of yet, but since last year it has given racing nuts a chance to put the pedal to the metal.
After the launch of open track days late last April, the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) has seen its fair share of corporate track days as well. Ones where paying customers are ferried around in performance cars by motor sport professionals. Case in point, Mercedes' track day in association with Force India when Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg 'played' taxi driver behind the wheel of C63 AMGs.
BIC officials have taken the concept of bringing the racing experience on an F1 circuit closer to paying customers one step further with its 'Arrive and Drive' program in association with Volkswagen Motorsport India.
The now phased out 1.6-litre, turbo-diesel engined, race-ready Volkswagen Polos that were used for the first two seasons of the one-make Polo Cup can be booked for anything from a three lap taxi ride to one whole hour of driving by anyone regardless of their previous racing experience. The program runs every Saturday from 9 AM to 6 PM.
The five-speed manual gearbox cars have been modified to produce 130 bhp and are fitted with racing seats, slick tyres, a racing steering wheel and a safety roll cage and harness.
Since 2012, the diesel engined car has been replaced by a 1.4-litre petrol engined car in the re-christened Polo R Cup (pictured).
In total, there are four packages available to customers:
- Race Car experience Taxi Ride (3 laps): Rs 4,500
- Driving for five laps: Rs 5,000
- Driving for 30 minutes: Rs 10,000
- Driving for one hour: Rs 15,000
The rates for the self-driving packages are not including taxes, however, and also do not include the Rs 20,000 required to be laid down as a safety deposit by customers.
A Jaypee Sports spokesperson told autoX that the safety deposit would be returned to customers in full if the car was found to be undamaged. In the event of damage, only the amount covering the cost of damage would be deducted.
Further information regarding registration can be found at the Buddh International Circuit website.
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